Tensions flare between Newburgh cops, critics

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2008 at 2:00 AM

NEWBURGH — A day after council members said what they said and police union members said what they said, we were left with this: Nothing is simple in the City of Newburgh, and everything is open for interpretation.

Doyle murphy

NEWBURGH — A day after council members said what they said and police union members said what they said, we were left with this: Nothing is simple in the City of Newburgh, and everything is open for interpretation.

The latest debate — what is support, and what is meddling?

Councilwoman Christine Bello has pushed to create a civilian review board to investigate complaints against city officers. That's an unpopular proposal with some members of the force, who see a lack of trust and support in council members' questions about recent arrests.

"Why doesn't the council support us?" he asked, adding that officers are continually mischaracterized as "jackbooted thugs."

Later, Bello and Councilwoman Marge Bell said the council completely supported police. Bello said her problem was with a handful of officers who were "getting away with murder."

Newburgh blogger Jane Johnston captured on video the exchange that followed. Weber is seen storming out of the room as an officer challenges Bello to name any officers getting away with murder. "Name them!" he yells. "Name them!"

A man off camera is heard commenting about "jackbooted thugs," while others in the audience call the officer out of order. The officer replies, "the jackboot thugs will be outside if you want to confront them out there."

At that point, Mayor Nick Valentine tries to close the meeting.

Clarification: An officer who interrupted Monday night’s Newburgh City Council meeting by yelling at Councilwoman Christine Bello is a Town of Newburgh police officer. His affiliation was not clear in a story in Wednesday’s newspaper.

The word murder triggers hard feelings in a city where relations between police and residents are strained, and where police critics have accused cops of killing young men, despite contrary findings by grand juries and the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Yesterday, Bello and Weber continued to disagree on the issues and what everyone meant. They agreed that any bad officers make life harder for good ones. To Bello, a civilian review board would safeguard against that by holding officers accountable. To Weber, speaking as PBA president, a board would devastate the city by forcing officers to worry that a criminal with the right backing by board members could cost them their jobs.

As for the exchange from the night before, Bello said she chose an unfortunate phrase and that what she meant was that certain officers got preferential treatment.

Weber said Bello chose the word she wanted. "Of course she did, or she wouldn't say that," he said.

Johnston's video can be accessed through the Web site www.newburghadvocate.com.